What makes our life happier? [English Dubbed]: Bo-Hun Kim at TEDxYouth@YCHS

Hello, everyone. There are many people, wondering
about the order in which we're giving speeches.

Why eleventh grader, twelfth grader, teacher,
and then twelfth grader? It's not even in

alphabetic order. Then why is it this way?
My answer is reverse to handsomeness. (laughter)

My speech's called "What makes our life happier?"
I suggested to a friend of mine, "let's live

in a fun way." The friend replied, "I'm already
enjoying life. Playing League of Legends is

fun like nothing else." I asked him how he
felt after the game, on the bus, on the way home.

His answer was "somewhat hollow."
My definition of a fun activity is one that you

keep waiting for before it starts, enjoy during
it, and one that you do not regret after it

has ended. There are people older than me
listening to the speech, and you may think

that it's inappropriate that a twelfth grader
is trying to teach them something about life.

That's like lecturing Confucius on writing,
but please don't take my speech too seriously.

Mr. Kim Byung-soo taught me (thank you, sir)
that Confucius once said that a man who knows

cannot be the same as the one who likes, and
the one who likes something is different from

one who enjoys it. I thought to myself after
hearing this, 'do Korean high school students

know what they enjoy?' So I stand here to
help out my friends and younger students.

Sometimes, a harder activity may be more fun
than less exhausting ones. Last year, I led

the school orchestra and went abroad on a
volunteer project, in the sweltering Philippines.

But I enjoyed these harder activities. These
irritating, arduous, and exhausting activities,

are activities that are fun only to me. If
someone else had been the conductor for the

orchestra at the last rugby match between
Yangchung High School and Baejae High School

(one of the current eleventh graders will
be replacing me soon), I ensure you, he will

hot enjoy it, as they will not follow your
lead easily. But this is the point. People

differ in activities they enjoy. Everyone
has different hobbies. Some may enjoy listening

to music, some may enjoy movies more. This
seems like that a fun activity is an activity

easy to do and easy to remember. What I'm
trying to say here is, what is a truly enjoyable

activity? A truly enjoyable activity also
acts as a way to express yourself. If you

say that you enjoy volunteering, you might
be considered an emphatic person, a person

who likes people. Cooking, playing music,
painting, all ways to express who you are.

Why? Why are these activities
ways to express oneself?

This is because these activities
are something only you enjoy in a unique way.

For some, high school art classes may be the
last time in their lives that they paint;

some may abandon cooking because results are
disastrous every time they try. Find something

you enjoy and develop it. A truly enjoyable
activity acts as your own ideology. Activities

that are enjoyable, memorable, and not regrettable,
these become your personality, perks.

If they ask you in a university interview about your
unique traits, tell them about your own unique activities.

Find something you've never tried
before and see if you enjoy it. I told you

that I went to the Philippines to do volunteer
work? Frankly, it came very unexpectedly to

me. Before winter vacation, my father suddenly
asked me if I wanted to go. After ten minutes,

I decided that I would go, and since then,
that activity has been my driving force for

my volunteer work. Try something - Unexpectedly.
I've been actively volunteering in a lot of

occasions. By doing something unintended,
you will acquire a wider view of the world.

Things you need to keep in mind when trying
to find a new activity: it has to be productive

and not boring. Firstly, let's ponder about
productivity. Take the example of gaming.

They're enjoyable, fun, but they ultimately
make you feel hollow in the end because it's

not productive. It gives you a feeling of
achievement when you do something productive,

not bored by the activity itself. The activity;
renewed by itself, feeling better by itself,

addicted by itself. If you're bored of it,
you don't want to continue, right? The feeling

achievement allows you to go on. You've tried
and tried, but if it doesn't get better? We've

now seen how to find good activities. What
if you find them boring after a while? The

solution, I think, is fusion of fun activities.
I've told you that I'm continuing my volunteering

work. Then, what am I doing nowadays? I'm
currently volunteering my musical abilities

as a part of the orchestra. The fusion of
music and volunteering. It's really fun.

The communication between people via music gives
me a way of life, feeling of achievement,

and gratification. If you have two things
you enjoy, fuse them into something better.

I hope you find a way to fuse activities to
good effect. A warning, though: if you detect

any adverse effects, destroy the fusion immediately.
One develops an obsession that one must enjoy

the activity. You may get bored of both activities
and ditch them all. I hope this speech helps

you in difficult times, thank you for listening.